Best Independent Movie Theater (2013)

Can a theater have multiple personality disorder? In one three-day stretch in an ordinary week, Cinefamily will play a Louise Brooks silent, an all-but-guaranteed 2013 Oscar front-runner, James Cameron's The Abyss with the "alien movement designer" in person, a Unicornucopia double feature of Legend and The Last Unicorn, a $6,000 horror flick, and a 16mm retro doc called Computers: Challenging Man's Supremacy. Cinefamily is insane all right — insanely committed to being the conversation hub for L.A.'s cinephiles, who cluster into the back patio to drink and decompress from what they've just watched. What unifies its programming is its obsession with all film, from great to gonzo: It doesn't simply show audiences what they want to see; it introduces them to curiosities they never knew existed. And it's not above bribing audiences with free grilled cheese sandwiches. 611 N. Fairfax Ave., Fairfax District, 90036. (323) 655-2510, cinefamily.org. —Amy Nicholson